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Having reveled in all Deschutes Brewing has to offer, then picking up the Keg Cap from Bend based Drink Tanks, it was time to figure out where I want to go for the few remaining hours I had in town. A tough decision when you’ve got 19 breweries within the city limits staring you down. While I wanted to visit more of them, those places I did visit provided more hospitality than I’ve ever been shown anywhere else.
It was especially tough since Good Life is in the same complex as Drink Tanks and the other two places I’d planned to visit, 10 Barrel Brewing and Crux Fermentation Project, were spread across town. So I headed just up the road first to 10 Barrel (this was before the AB buyout news) where I proceeded sample a few beers completely new to me.
Having just barreled through two Deschutes locations in 4 hours, I wasn’t about to get a pint of something, nor take on 10 samplers – I still had to get back to Portland. So I asked for just a few tasters and the barkeep was willing to oblige. I was especially impressed with their Uberliner Sour, a less sweet yet bigger take (7.5% ABV) on the Berliner Weiss style.
Also great was their Big Ol’ Pumpkin, a 9.3% ABV beast of an Imperial Pumpkin Ale featuring over 14 lbs of organic pumpkin per barrel, plus nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. I ended up having two or three others as well and when I asked for the check they said, “you’re all taken care of.” Well… this was a surprise, though evidence that Bend’s hospitality is tough to argue with and that I should’ve been giving out my business card to bartenders years ago.
After a brief water break and some note taking, it was time to shoot across town to Crux so I could eat a sturdy, tasty meal, then get out of town before the sun set. Sitting on their covered patio I proceeded to order a 5 beer flight including their phenomenal Half Hitch Imperial Mosaic IPA, a Fresh Hop Cruxtennial Pale Ale and the delectable Double Cross Strong Dark Belgian.
Being the huge Beer Nerd I am, I immediately post the picture to twitter. Within the hour I’ve been found out by my waitress who informs me that the wait-staff was on the look-out for me, with the powers that be wanting to make sure I got a tour. But before being led on a private tour by Brandon (who was actually in the middle of finishing up a batch), I devoured an awesome Chicken Bacon Sandwich with Pale Ale Caesar Dressing, roasted garlic and sun-dried tomato, served on their own spent grain bread.
I’m super grateful to all the breweries who went out of their way to spoil a little ol’ writer like me, representing the writing elite of the craft beer industry (HA), for I know I’d do all I could, even just to spend one more day in Bend.
